PAM

The suggestion was to do a drawing using only straight lines.  I tried it on a statue of Atalanta, forcing straight lines by setting that style.  And found that it was damned hard to do her curly hair, or the swirly flounces of her dress.

Next I tried a bust, with the straight line style turned off.  But still did the shading with cross-hatches.

March for Science

Got soaked riding downtown to meet with a few other sketchers.  

After coffee and breakfast we wandered out into the rain.   Which had settled down to, at best, a drizzle.   I hung out in front of the federal building all morning.

I started out doing the sculptures at the entrance while waiting for the March for Science to get started and reach us.

 I kept hearing the sound of kids playing.  But when I looked up, I realized that it was a single woman, having a loud conversation with her own reality.  I tried sketching her, which was difficult, as she couldn't keep still.

 


Then a motorcycle cop who was directing traffic out of the way of the march.  And stoically enduring the abuse of the aforementioned woman.

And finally, I caught Andrea lost in her own creative process.

Cherry blossoms again

One last try for the cherry blossoms on the waterfront.  Still blooming away.  But there's a rain of petals now, and a tinge of green as the leaves are starting to come out.

On this one I was trying for pen and ink for the tree and rocks, and for serendipitous splatters for the blossoms.

Granted, it took a while to find random splatters that I liked.

This was going to be a value sketch.
But the sun decided to leave us at this point and all of my shadows disappeared.

 

Finally, I remembered the brush that I'd brought to experiment with.  I used it to put down the vertical lines of the tree, and then used my finger to smudge in the faint horizontal lines of the bark.

Portland Art Museum

Sunny Saturday in Old Town

My original plan for the day had been to spend a couple of hours at the Chinese garden before the rains started in the afternoon.  But the newest weather report calls for no rain at all.  So I headed straight for the waterfront to do the cherry blossoms, leaving Lu San Garden for the afternoon.


There were plenty of people as well, and some impressive clouds, and I'd intended to add some of both.  But a street preacher showed up, with a microphone and an amp, and sort of spoiled the mood.

So I headed towards the Chinese Garden.  But got distracted by a passing freight train.

Finally got to the garden, and found a spot to do a tree (a magnolia, maybe) in front of the tea house.



Meeting

TriMet Public Testimony

Happy Hour